| Polperro 'Gaffer' PH 107, built Looe 1908 for Fred Oliver Elizabeth Mary by Kevin Pyne She filled her foresail Until it bloomed out like a pregnant woman's life-filled belly Cradling the wind deep into her canvas womb Her boom ran out until it skimmed across the water's edge Drowning the trailing sheets on every wave This was sailing that I could understand A foot up on the coaming Until we heaved the wind into her Gathered it up into her sails And set alight her wooden soul Sing water, water sing As she cuts threw the cat's-paws Releasing our joyous souls From the penance of her keep Drive on Elizabeth Mary Tease the angry scolding wind before it dies As we race toward the lifting sun Leave our happy laughter in your boiling wake Race on until you cross the sea of time Where blocks not stainless winches Arrest the elements Cup them in your salt-etched sails Drive on Elizabeth Mary Our sou'westers and oilskins Drenched in the sea spume Our cold hands paying out and pulling in Letting us share with the ghosts in your past Feeling you drive on through our finger tips Hold in the wind Elizabeth Mary And steal another knot From the wind's purse As you dance the gaffer's dance On this a new clear spring morning... The best day's sailing I've ever had in my life. Kevin Pyne Further up the River and fifty other poems Reproduced with permission Richard Webb Publishing, 2004 |
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